With serious damage, a tree could fall on your home or in your backyard or garden. Likewise, an infestation of termites in trees outside your home means they could try to find a way to get inside.
Ever wondered what termites sound like? Well, termite soldiers make a quiet clicking noise from inside the walls. They do this by banging their heads against the wood, or by shaking their bodies.
Termite soldiers make this distinct noise to signal danger to other termites when the nest is alarmed or disturbed. Termites are sensitive critters and can identify vibrations and sounds using several organs at the base of their antennae and on the tibia. The worker termites, which are the creatures that munch on your woodwork, are noisy feeders too. Our team are experts in discovering the signs of termites around your home and have the technology to uncover them even if there are no visible signs.
If a termite colony is found, our technicians will offer you recommendations for the suitable treatments available for your home. Contact us for more information and arrange an inspection today if you believe you may have a termite infestation.
Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Discarded Wings Discarded or broken wings are often one of the first signs of termites. Frass Frass, otherwise known as termite droppings, are also evidence of termites.
Mounds of drywood termite pellets , often resembling small piles of salt or pepper. Piles of wings left behind after swarms , often resembling fish scales. Mud tubes climbing the foundation of your home. Flying termite swarms anywhere on your property. Termite swarms may take place inside or outside of a home as mature termites leave the nest to start new colonies.
Soon after swarmers take flight, they shed their wings. Swarmers from mature colonies typically leave the nest at one of two times per year - during the spring or during the fall.
The exact timing of the swarms varies based on the species and weather conditions. Swarms on the exterior of a home may be missed by homeowners, as they are typically a brief event during the morning or afternoon — a time when many people are not at home. Formosan termites also can swarm at dusk.
Subterranean termites build mud tubes also known as shelter tubes to serve as bridges between their colony and the wood they consume. These tubes are made of tiny pieces of soil, wood and debris, and are used to protect the colony from predators and conserve moisture.
After consuming wood, drywood termites often leave behind frass or droppings. These tiny fecal mounds often indicate a nearby termite infestation. Drywood termites are usually found in warm, southern climates.
They house their colonies within the wood on which they feed. As the termites consume wood, they burrow mazes of tunnels and chambers within walls and furniture. The pests leave small piles of feces that resemble pellets where they have eaten or nested.
Though it can be difficult to spot these mud workings, they are one of the most common warning signs of a termite infestation — and enable these critters to travel across exposed terrain to infiltrate your home. However, avoiding build-ups of moist soil or dirt around the perimeter of your house is one way to prevent the frequency of termite travel across your property.
Termites are often attracted to the warmth of electrical fittings behind walls — so if you notice that short circuits are a regular occurrence at your place, these critters may be the reason.
A good way to confirm this is by inspecting your electrical fittings and power points. If you spot a build-up of earthy materials such as damp mud or soil, you may have a termite problem. Though they mostly eat wood, termites can feed on anything that crosses their path — and though they are small, they can enforce massive amounts of damage to the structural integrity of items such as laminated floors, skirting boards and ceiling beams.
Another way to detect termite-inflicted damage is to knock on timber around your house. Exception: In neighborhoods that are heavily infested with Formosan termites, finding just a few Formosan termite swarmers Figure 2 inside a building that is known to be properly treated does not necessarily mean the building has an active infestation.
Because Formosan swarmers are so strongly attracted to lights, swarmers from trees and other outside colonies may accidentally enter buildings at night during swarm season. Finding a few dozen Formosan swarmers inside a building in this situation may not be the result of an active infestation, but finding hundreds of Formosan swarmers is a definite indication of a current problem, regardless of the treatment history of the building.
Buildings in areas known to be infested with Formosan termites need to be properly treated for termites and inspected annually, regardless of whether or not the building has ever been infested. This may or may not mean the building is infested, but it is definitely cause for further investigation.
Get a professional inspection. If you do not know when the building was last treated for termites, or if it was treated so long ago that the treatment has likely broken down, this is a good reason to have it treated. This is rarely a cause for concern. It is normal for termites to be in these types of situations.
The termites are where they should be and they are doing what they should be doing—helping to breakdown and recycle dead wood. Still, if you do not know when the building was last treated for termites, this can serve as a reminder to check your records and to have the building inspected. This is usually a sure sign that a building is infested. Carefully break a 1-inch section of the tube and watch to see if you observe termites Figure 4 or if they repair the tube over the next few days.
Either of these results lets you know the building has an active infestation. Note that simply destroying the tubes will not control the termites; they are still there in the ground and will find other ways to get into the building.
Also keep in mind that the mud tube s you can see may not be the only places where termites are entering the building. If you find mud shelter tubes, it is a good idea to have the building professionally inspected even if you do not see live termites or see that the tube is repaired after being broken.
The only exception would be if you are certain these are old tubes left over from a previous infestation that has already been controlled. Scrape away the mud to see if there is a hole underneath Figure 7 and watch closely to see if a termite comes to investigate. Mark the spot and note whether it is repaired over the next few days.
They occur when termites accidentally cut an opening to the outside, which they promptly repair with mud because they do not like exposure to the outside airflow. This is a sure sign of an active termite infestation. This could be due to termite galleries located just beneath the surface. Termites do not eat the gypsum in sheetrock, but they will eat the outer cardboard covering, usually without disturbing the thin coat of paint on the surface of the sheetrock, and they will eat wood paneling.
Break into these and you will probably see soldiers coming to defend the breech in the colony. Start getting bids for a termite treatment. This is most often a sign of Formosan termite infestation, but eastern subterranean termites can also behave like this. Even though termites do not eat foam insulation, they will tunnel through it in their search for wood to feed on.
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